A couple of weeks ago I went to the markets with friend Mellie, half of Tummyrumbles. We spied “tamed nettles” lovingly picked off their stems and bagged for us by one of the stall holder’s sons as his “pin money” job. I quietly suggested that nettle gnocchi may have to be in order to Mellie. [...]
Now that I have found a ready supply of free range chicken frames I find myself making chicken stock regularly. It is so easy and lends itself to a quiet Sunday afternoon at home, then to be turned into soup or risotto for an easy Sunday meal. You can also use up any not [...]
We recently dined at Circa The Prince in St Kilda, and I was really surprised by the Chestnut soup we were served. I asked chef, Matt Wilkinson, if he would share the recipe with me. He graciously agreed. The soup I made isn’t quite as refined as the one they serve at Circa but the [...]
A few weeks ago we got together for a feast of Momofuku themed dinner party. Master baker Anne brought along some “Compost Cookies” from David Chang’s Milk Bar restaurant. They were chewy and crunchie and salty and sweet and very very moorish. I was stuffed full of pork, and there was “Crack Pie” to [...]
This delicious torte is actually pretty easy to make, and works well with frozen or preserved cherries, but it perhaps best in the middle of cherry season. What I really like about this recipe is that it uses many of the same ingredients as macarons, so when I’ve had a frustrating day baking them badly, [...]
I’ve been splurging on cookbooks lately – the strong Aussie dollar has been making it too difficult to resist. The Momofuku Cook book (by David Chang and Peter Meehan) arrived after Christmas and has been inspiring me non-structurally for a few weeks. By that I mean I haven’t sat down, read through a recipe, gone [...]
Day after Boxing Day BBQ – we’re getting more confident with the BabyQ and felt that we could give some of the fabulous steak from Largo a decent send off. I grabbed some rump steaks from Simon that had been dry-aged on the bone since 7th November and we put together some salads. So easy [...]
“Whattya call this love?” – “Stew”
Feels like Lamb Shank night, and it was. Some lovely (but my aren’t they expensive now!) lamb shanks, two onions, half a bottle of decent cab and water to simmer with a muslin bag including tangerine peel, peppercorns, juniper berries, a cinnamon stick and three bay leaves. After an hour [...]
New Year’s? blerh
Let’s avoid the sobriety (of watching fireworks in town with families and NO alcohol – blerg) and the transport troubles of going somewhere for a meal / drink. Lets cook something wonderful and open a darn nice bottle of wine.
So we did. We opened two in fact. Starting with a Coldstream Hills Vintage [...]
